Federal Judge Orders Much of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Dismantled

The ruling is a setback to the Trump administration’s effort to carry out deportations.

A federal judge has ordered that the government dismantle much of “Alligator Alcatraz,” one of the flagship immigrant detention facilities in President Trump’s enforcement effort.

TOPSHOT - An ariel view of a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," is seen located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida on July 7, 2025. (AFP)

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida said Thursday night that the government had 60 days to remove fencing, lighting, generators, sewage facilities and other major parts of the facility. Williams wrote in her decision that the government was required to do an environmental assessment of the site before building it, but “chose not to do so.”

A Florida state official filed notice of appeal soon after Williams’s order came down Thursday evening.

The facility, designed to hold several thousand people, was built on top of a little-used air strip in the Everglades wetlands preserve. The order also halts new construction of the facility.

A pair of nonprofits filed suit in late June, alleging that the government failed to conduct a required environmental impact review and ignored other legal requirements. Advocates said the facility’s operations would harm both the wetlands of the Big Cypress National Preserve and the endangered animals—such as the Florida panther and Florida bonneted bat—that live there.

The ruling is a setback for the Trump administration’s effort to carry out the largest mass-deportation campaign in U.S. history. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now flush with cash from the Republican tax-and-spending package passed last month, has been racing to expand detention capacity to house immigrants the administration has arrested.

Write to Victoria Albert at victoria.albert@wsj.com, Mariah Timms at mariah.timms@wsj.com and Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com